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Pratt & Whitney Develops
Engine for Airbus Aircraft

By

Charles GoldsmithStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Dec. 10, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

After initially declining to supply engines for new Airbus Industrie widebody models, Pratt & Whitney Co. of the U.S. said it is developing a derivative of an existing engine that could power the hot-selling Airbus models as well as some Boeing Co. aircraft.

The move poses potential competition to Rolls-Royce PLC of Britain, whose Trent 500 engine is initially the only engine available for the new Airbus A340-500 and A340-600 models, already racking up some $4 billion of engine orders.